Source : Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)
Nonpareil \Non`pa*reil"\, n. [See {Nonpareil}, a. ]
1. Something of unequaled excellence; a peerless thing or
person; a nonesuch; -- often used as a name.
2. [F. nonpareille.] (Print.) A size of type next smaller
than minion and next larger than agate (or ruby).
Note: This line is printed in the type called nonpareil.
3. (Zo["o]l.)
(a) A beautifully colored finch ({Passerina ciris}),
native of the Southern United States. The male has the
head and neck deep blue, rump and under parts bright
red, back and wings golden green, and the tail bluish
purple. Called also {painted finch}.
(b) Any other similar bird of the same genus.
Nonpareil \Non`pa*reil"\, a. [F., from non not + pareil equal,
fr. LL. pariculus, dim. of L. par equal. See {Non}, and
{Pair}, {Peer}.]
Having no equal; peerless.
Source : WordNet®
nonpareil
adj : eminent beyond or above comparison; "matchless beauty"; "the
team's nonpareil center fielder"; "she's one girl in a
million"; "the one and only Muhammad Ali"; "a peerless
scholar"; "infamy unmatched in the Western world";
"wrote with unmatchable clarity"; "unrivaled mastery of
her art" [syn: {matchless}, {one(a)}, {one and only(a)},
{peerless}, {unmatched}, {unmatchable}, {unrivaled}, {unrivalled}]
n 1: model of excellence or perfection of a kind; one having no
equal [syn: {ideal}, {paragon}, {saint}, {apotheosis}, {nonesuch},
{nonsuch}]
2: colored beads of sugar used as a topping on e.g. candies and
cookies
3: a flat disk of chocolate covered with beads of colored sugar
Source : Free On-Line Dictionary of Computing
Nonpareil
One of five pedagogical languages based on {Markov
algorithm}s, used in ["Nonpareil, a Machine Level Machine
Independent Language for the Study of Semantics", B. Higman,
ULICS Intl Report No ICSI 170, U London (1968)]. The others
were {Brilliant}, {Diamond}, {Pearl} and {Ruby}.